By Linda M. Girgis, MD, FAAFP
As medical records go digital, many end users (i.e. doctors) are growing increasingly frustrated with the state of their electronic health record (EHR) system. Various polls have shown a majority of doctors find EHRs slow them down and don’t easily adapt to their workflow, and they also feel EHR developers do not truly understand how EHRs are being used. The technology has not been created to fit our needs, yet we’re mandated to use it in order to qualify for meaningful use (MU). While MU is currently an incentive program, it will in the future be used to penalize doctors who do not comply.
I don’t think anyone would argue about the value of EHRs, especially if they are ever to achieve any significant degree of interoperability. They have a huge potential to improve outcomes and save lives. For example, if a patient arrives in the ER in the middle of the night from a drug overdose, anyone can see the value of the ER physician being able to log into that patient’s medical records to be able to determine what drug/medication he may have taken. But, that kind of interoperability is far in the future. Interfaces between current systems are proving difficult and are often incompatible.
Please log in or register below to continue reading.
